A Fighter Within
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: One day, when Kristin is running from the bullies, an alien comes in to save her, but when he gets hurt, she decides enough is enough.


**A birthday story for one of my good friends EmeraldMoonGreen. Happy Birthday, Amiga! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kristin belongs to EmeraldMoonGreen and I only own Rachel and Andromeda. All other characters belong to their respective owners.**

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**A Fighter Within**

Kristin walked tiredly down the sidewalk. Today had been a very exhausting day and those boys had been bullying her again. She just wished they'd stop bugging her, but even though they had gotten caught all the last times, they still bothered her.

Now, she was about to turn down the street where she lived when she heard a sound behind her and turned to see the bullies coming up fast.

"Come back here!" said one of them.

Kristin quickly ran, hoping she could reach someone or somewhere safe in time, like the Grant Mansion. Surely her friends Frankenstrike and Rath would come help her and give these bullies a thrashing.

Suddenly, sharp rock shards hit the sidewalk between her and the bullies, who stopped in surprise when they saw a figure in black armor come up to them, his helmet going down to reveal his face. He looked once at the girl.

"Find somewhere to hide," he said to her and she immediately took off, hiding behind some nearby bushes as she watched her rescuer fight the bullies, who just laughed and kept trying their luck. One of them got a lucky kick in because the bounty hunter had been a little busy blocking two punches and hadn't had time to protect his stomach from the kick.

Kristin watched and seeing him get kicked by the bullies made something snap in her. She had had enough of these creeps and wasn't going to let them get away with hurting her captor.

Looking around quickly, she grabbed a nearby stick and charged into the fight, whacking one boy on the head and the others in their kidneys. All three boys cried out in pain and surprise. One even looked up at her.

"Oh, so now you decide to not be a coward?" he sneered at her.

To his shock, she glared right back. "I've had enough," she said and used one foot to sweep his feet out from under him and hit his kidneys with her stick as well. All three groaned, especially when Kristin saw her rescuer get up and plant his foot into the boys' behinds, giving them hard enough kicks not to break a bone, but to get them to think twice about their actions. When the battle was over, he turned to the girl.

"Rath and Frankenstrike didn't tell me you were a fighter," he said with a chuckle.

"I-I'm not," she stammered. "I just didn't want them to beat you up."

He just chuckled again. "Still, that took a lot of guts."

She looked at him. "Are you a friend of Rath and Frankenstrike?" she now asked.

"Yes, I am, Kristin," he said. "My name is Tetrax."

"The bounty hunter," she said in recognition. "Rachel told me how she met you."

He gave an embarrassed chuckle at that. "Yeah," he said. "Well, come on. Rath and Frankenstrike are worried."

She followed him for a bit before he took out his hoverboard and opened it up, jumping up on it. "Jump on," he said, holding out a hand to her. She took his hand and grabbed on to his shoulders, feeling a little unnerved when the board hovered a bit over the ground before going up a few feet and taking off, gathering speed along the way. Kristin just held on, a little scared from both the speed and the height they were at. She whimpered a bit as her grip on Tetrax's shoulders tightened. He glanced back at her.

"Just close your eyes," he suggested. "That'll help with your fear."

She did so and her fears slowly left as she just kept her eyes shut and held on, hoping they'd be at the Mansion soon. She then felt the board come to a slow halt. "We're here," said her rescuer.

Slowly, Kristin opened her eyes and looked around before carefully prying her hands on Tetrax's shoulders, holding onto his hand as she jumped down to the ground, her knees wobbling a little before she used a nearby tree to steady herself as she watched him put away his hoverboard before taking hold of her shoulder and gently guiding her to the Mansion's front door.

"Kristin!" said two voices she recognized and looked up before she was suddenly scooped up by Frankenstrike, who hugged her hard for a moment before giving her to Rath, who also hugged her hard.

"Are you okay?" the tiger alien asked worriedly.

She nodded. "I'm okay, guys. Tetrax saved me," she said.

"More like, she helped me and defended herself," Tetrax chuckled as he retold them what happened. Both the tiger and the scientist alien were surprised, but also happy that their friend had stood up for herself and sent the boys running. Kristin blushed at the praise and hid her face in Rath's shoulder, not seeing him wink at Frankenstrike as they both got the same train of thought. Suddenly, she felt fingers wiggle all over her neck and she laughed aloud. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT TICKLES! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Cootchie, cootchie, coo," said Frankenstrike, smiling. "Let's hear that laugh, Kristin."

"Yes, let's hear that laugh," said Rath in agreement as he suddenly pinned the girl down on the carpet and tickled the right side of her neck while Frankenstrike tickled the left side of her neck. The trapped girl could only laugh as her two best friends tickled her. Tetrax watched in amusement, smiling as he then saw Rachel come to see what was going on. She smiled too when she saw the teenager being tickled to pieces by the two aliens who had a soft spot for her.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FRANKENSTRIKE! AHAHAHAHAHA! RATH! STO-HOHOHOP!" the poor girl laughed out.

Seeing that she had reached her limit, the two stopped tickling her, hugging her and saying they were proud of her for standing up for herself and gaining self-confidence. Later on, Kristin was about to head upstairs to the guest bedroom Rachel had set up for her when she spotted Tetrax carrying Andromeda to her room. She followed as she watched the proud father tuck his daughter in. She smiled. "I would have never thought a bounty hunter would have also been a father, but it makes a cute picture," she said to him.

Tetrax chuckled. "Yes," he said. "I wouldn't trade my children, my wife, or my friends for anything else in the world."

"Me neither," she said in agreement as she hugged him. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Kristin," he said as he watched her head off to bed while he smiled and nodded to himself, happy to have a new friend who was a fighter within, which is what Kristin was.

He then went off to his room and followed his friends into a deep sleep as night played its soft melody for them all.

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**Please leave a review, but no flames!**

**GoldGuardian2418**


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